Railway-gate.



No. 755,263. PATENTED MAR. 22, I904.

T. S. WHITE & M. M. NEAL.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1,.1903.

N0 MODEL.

eAlforgzys Patented March 22, 1904. 3

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE-l THoMAss-wHiTE, or wEsT FRANKFORT, AND MARSHALL M. NEAL, oE

. BENTON, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-GATE. v

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 755,263," dated. March 22, 1904.

Application filedSepteniber 1,1903. Serial 1%. 171,506. (No man.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THoMAs S. WHITE, residing at West Frankfort, and MARSHALL M. NEAL, residing at Benton, in the county of Franklin and State of Illinois, citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Railway-Grate, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to'improvements in railway-gates employed for the purpose of guarding railway-tracks and the railway right of way from the intrusion of cattle,horses,and

other animals or to prevent cattle or other animals from passing over bridges or trestlesor from entering tunnels or cuts and which may also be employed for the purpose of preventing persons from passing over bridges or entering tunnels or other private property of railway'companies, and has for its object to improve and simplify the construction of devices of this character.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, as hereinafter shown and described, and specified in the claims. 7

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, in which like reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts in the several figures, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation. Fig. 2 isa plan view. Fig. 3 is a transverse section, enlarged, taken through one of the rails and its support,

This improved device may be connected to any desired part of the-railway-track, either at the entrances of bridges, tunnels, trestles,

road-crossings, at points where fences occur at opposite sides of the railwaytracks, and in otherlocalities which it is desired to guard, and it is not desired, therefore, to limit the device to any specific locality'along the track, as the device is capable of application at all the various points designated.

At the point where the device is applied a cavity will be formedbeneath the track, in

which the operating mechanism will be disposed and into which the guard-gate will be depressed while the train is passing, and thus be entirely out of the wayand not liable to be struck by the passing train.

When the device is erected upon bridges .or trestles, a portion of the space beneath the bridge or trestle will be utilized for the cavity above referred to; but when located at other points a cavity will be specially formed beneath the track. l

For the purpose of illustration the device is shown as if erected beneathan otherwise solid portion of the track, with the cavity 10 beneath it and the rails 11 12-supported upon stringers 13 and posts 14; of the ordinary construction. j

The guard-gate is. illustrated at 15, preferably of the usual construction and vertically disposed transversely of the track and reaching toany desired distance upon either side to provide a guard of the required dimensions to meet the requirements of the locality where erected.

When employed to guard bridges, tunnels, or similar structures, the guard-gate willbe of suflicient length to completely guard the gap through which the train passes, and when employed in other localities it will be long directions, with one of the rails preferably adjacent to the track-rail 11 and the other rail preferably adjacent to the track 12, with their adjacent ends overlapping for a'short distance, as indicated in Fig. 2, and with their upper surfaces substantially even with 'the treads of the rails. These trip-rails 16 17 are precisely alike and are pivoted at their outer ends, as at'l8 19, to the supporting-framework of the track and free to move vertically bytheir inner or adjacent ends. The outer ends'of the trip-rails are provided, respectively, with depending arms 20 21, in the obvious.

lower ends of which the pivots 18 19, by whichthe trip-rails are supported, are located, as shown in Fig. 1.

The trip-rails 16 17 at the ends next the bars 20 21 are inclined, as shown at 22 23, to provide for the gradual reception of the flanges of the wheels of the approaching trains and prevent jarring or injurious impact from the rapidly-moving train.

The arms 20 and 21 and portions of the inclines 22 23 are formed of relatively heavy metal to withstand the strains, while the remainder may be of lighter material, as the strains are less severe toward the free ends of the rails. Y

The rails 16 17 are stiffened by truss-rods 24 25 and brace-rods 26 27, the tr'uss-rods being provided with suitable turnbuckles to secure the requisite rigidity and forming a trusslike structure to cause the trip-bars to operate without deflection and to resist the strains to which they will be subjected. Mounted for oscillation in the space 10 is a shaft 28, having a short arm 29, connected by a link 30 to the rail 17, so that the vertical movement of the rail willoscillate the shaft. A similar shaft 31 is mounted for oscillation beneath the other rail 16 and has an arm 32, connected by a link 33 to the rail 16, so that the vertical movement of the rail will oscillate the shaft.

Mounted for oscillation between the shafts 28 and 31 is a third shaft 34, connected by bars 35 36 to the gate 15, which is thereby supported. The shaft 34 is also provided with a U-shaped frame 37, with which arms 38 39, eX- tending, respectively, from the shafts 28 31, movably engage, as shown.

The shaft 34 is provided with a weighted arm 40, exerting its force to maintain the rails l7 l8 and gate 15 in their upper or operative positions, as shown.

The lengths of the rails 17 18 will be suflicient to insure the presence of at least two wheels of the train upon the rails at all times while the train is passing to prevent any possibility of the release of the rails and levers and the elevation of the gate beneath a passing train. The rails and their inclined ends may be of any required length; but practice has shown that a length of about ten feet for the inclined portions 22 23 and about forty feet for the straight portions fully meet the requirements.

The supports for the railway-rails 11 12,

will be provided at suitable intervals with guard members 41 to prevent lateral movement of the trip-rails l7 18 without interfering with the vertical movement, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3.

The arms 29 32 and bar 39 will necessarily be so proportioned relative to the trip-rails that the depression of either of the latter will depress the gate to the same extent, as will be By this means it will be obvious that when the trip-rails are depressed the rock-shaft 34 will be correspondingly rotated.

in its bearings and the gate 15 withdrawn beneath the track and remain depressed until the train passes.

It will be noted that the trip-rails 16 17 are independently connected to the rock-shaft 34, so that the depression of either one will operate said rock-shaft. By this arrangement when a train runs upon either one of the triprails the inner end will be immediately depressed by the flanges of the wheels, this downward movement being communicated to the gate through the connecting-levers and the gate immediately depressed below the line of the railway-rails and remain in that position so long as the train or any portion of it is in contact with the trip-rails, as the weight 40 will be overcome by the weight of the train; but as soon as the train leaves the trip-rails the weight will at once return the gate to its upward position and at the same time restore the trip-rails to their former position ready for the next passing train. By this simple means the device is entirely automatic in its action and will not require the attention of any person to maintain it in operation.

The members 16 17 may be of any suitable shape in cross-section, but must be of ample strength to resist the strains to which they will be subjected, and will be inclined, as above noted, at their ends to cause the car wheels to run gradually into engagement with them and prevent sudden jars or pounding impacts.

The trip-rails will engage the track-rails sufiiciently close to insure the contact of the flanges of the wheels of a passing train and at the same time prevent the lodgment of snow or the formation of ice between the trackrails and trip-rails.

The whole structure is extremely. simple, easily erected, certain and positive in its action, and will adequately protect and guard the entrances to bridges or tunnels, gaps in fences, and other localities automatically and will not be injuriously affected by the jar or concussion of the passing trains.

To prevent any possibility of the trip-rails 17 18 catching beneath the heads of the trackrails at their upward movements, small guardblocks 42 will be employed at suitable intervals to fill the gaps between the vertical webs and heads and secured in place, as by bolts 43, as shown in Fig. 3.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed is- 1. In a device of the class described the combination with railway-track rails,of reverselydisposed trip rails arranged adjacent said track-rails in position to be operated by a passing train, spaced transversely-arranged shafts disposed between said rails on opposite sides of the gate opening in a plane below the track, and connected respectively with the trip-rails, a shaft disposed intermediately of said spaced shafts and in alinenient therewith, a weighted arm attached to said intermediate shaft, a yoke member extending laterally from said inter-- mediate shaft on one side and spaced arms extending from the other side, a vertically-arranged gate mounted on the free ends of said tached thereto, connecting means between said shaft and gate, means for connecting said 20 shaft with one of said trip-rails, and a rod connected with said shaft and extending beneath the gate and connected with the other trip-rail, said rod being spaced from said gate a distance sufficient to permit the depression 5 of the gate below the track.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aflixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS S. WHITE. MARSHALL M. NEAL. Witnesses:

J. I. CABANEss, R. P. BLAKE,

Gr. F. CULPEPER, B. F. HILL. 

